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LXer Weekly Roundup for 19-Dec-2010

In the Roundup this week we have a open source driver for Kinect hitting the streets, SJVN gives his take on who is Google's target audience for Chrome OS, more information on where the Novell patents are going and why Mozilla doesn't back a FOSS flash player. Enjoy!

Why Mozilla doesn't back Free Flash players: Despite Apple's best efforts to make it go away, the Web is still littered with Flash-based sites and content. The lack of an open source alternative to Adobe's Flash player is still a major pain point for Linux users and vendors, and the proprietary player is a big source of bug reports for Mozilla. Which brings the question: Why hasn't Mozilla backed one of the projects to create an open source player?

AT&T Blocks Linux Configuration: In the past 45 days, I've done a ton of installs. Of that bunch, 17 of our clients in that 45 days had chosen AT&T DSL for their provider. For good reason I think... They offer a two year contract at 14.95 a month for Internet service. Pretty good deal, huh? Not if you are a Linux User.

Is Zorin OS Really Easier than Ubuntu?: Zorin OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution, which its developers say is, "designed specifically for Linux beginners who want to have easy and smooth access to open source software." Well, isn't that similar to what Ubuntu says? Why would anyone need anything easier than Ubuntu? Is it even possible to have anything easier than Ubuntu? Well, Zorin folks think so, but let's see.

Official open source driver for Kinect: R&D company PrimeSense, the company responsible for the technology behind Microsoft's Kinect camera system, has, in conjunction with Willow Garage and Side-Kick, released official Windows and Linux (Ubuntu version 10.10 and later) open source drivers for Kinect. What was previously the work of several independent programmers has now been given the vendor's official seal of approval. Microsoft also now seems to have recognised the innate potential of amateur programmers in developing new ideas for using the Kinect for gesture control and is now actively supporting them.

Novell's patents bought by Microsoft, Apple, EMC, & Oracle: When CPTN Holdings appeared out of the blue to snap up Novell’s patent portfolio, the only thing anyone knew about them was that Microsoft was behind the group and that’s all Microsoft had to say about its Novell intellectual property (IP) purchase. Now, thanks to Germany’s anti-trust body, the Bundeskartellamt, we know that Microsoft’s CPTN Holdings partners were Apple, EMC, and Oracle.

Who Google has in mind for its Chrome OS users: Google isn’t telling me any secrets about its plans for Chrome OS. Indeed, I’m not even one of the 60,000 or so people that Google has given a Cr-48 Chromebook prototype to play with. Even so, unlike my good friend Mary Jo Foley, I think I know exactly who Google has in mind for its Chrome OS Linux desktop system.

Configuring Places, Bookmarks, and Locations in KDE : Part of the free software experience is having the freedom to setup your workspace the way you want it. KDE, the popular free software compilation for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, offers a plethora of configuration and customization options. Among those options are a number of methods for accessing files quickly and easily.

Allegations regarding OpenBSD IPSEC: I have received a mail regarding the early development of the OpenBSD IPSEC stack. It is alleged that some ex-developers (and the company they worked for) accepted US government money to put backdoors into our network stack, in particular the IPSEC stack. Around 2000-2001.

My Five Favorite Not-Usual Linux Distros: Yes, "my bestest distros!" is a overworked topic, but it's fun and Ubuntu is not on this list. So perhaps this will introduce you to something new and interesting.